+ FOCUS ON HEALTH

Regis Awards MNA Scholarship

Honoring Front Line Workers

When Samantha Gevry ’25 was accepted to Regis College, she thought one way she could relieve some stress for her mother—a nurse who has worked on the front lines throughout the pandemic—was to apply for the Regis College/Massachusetts Nurses Association scholarship, a four-year, full-tuition undergraduate scholarship for dependents of MNA members working on the pandemic front lines.

“Especially at the beginning of the pandemic when we didn’t know as much about COVID-19, getting called in for a shift was kind of scary [for her],” Gevry said. “She’d be in the operating room and wouldn’t know if a patient had COVID-19.”

Gevry was selected as a scholarship recipient and started at Regis in fall 2021.

“We are so proud to welcome Samantha to the Regis College community,” said President Antoinette M. Hays, PhD, RN. “Like so many front line health care workers and their families, Samantha and her mother have faced numerous challenges, and we thank them for their sacrifices. Samantha’s drive and determination to improve the health care system embodies the spirit of this scholarship.”

Gevry plans to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist—and the pandemic did not deter her from her dream. “If anything it made me want to be a nurse even more. Nurses were so critical to the response and I want to be able to help people every day no matter what is going on.”

Read the entire magazine online